Guide to Choosing New Colors for Kitchen Cabinets

With a few strokes of a brush, you can have a whole new look to your kitchen cabinets. Add some artistic ability to this, and the possibilities are endless as to what you can accomplish in bringing about this new look.

There are many advantages to giving your kitchen cabinets a new color. A few of which are: you don't have to buy new cabinets to achieve a new look, you don't have to buy new appliances and it doesn't cost much money.

If you have solid wood cabinets, don't worry about the paint ruining them. In fact, the paint will help to protect the wood. Later on if you decide that you want the natural wood of your cabinets to show, it is just a matter of stripping and refinishing the wood.

This guide will help you in deciding which colors to go with for your new colors for your kitchen cabinets, based on the ambiance you wish to attain.

Decide the ambiance you want in the kitchen

Let's take a look at the basic description of each color, and the attitude that it is supposed to provoke.

Red - is a vibrant color, and it gives a burst of energy.

Blue - this is a relaxing color, and is used a lot in country style.

Green - people always thing of nature when they see all shades of green

Yellow - yellow is a warm color and it invokes a feeling of freshness.

White - this color, or lack of, shows elegance and sophistication.

Add depth to your color choice

In addition to understanding the emotion that a particular color can trigger, using more than one color on your kitchen cabinets can not only add depth, but add richness and elegance.

Are you going to Harmonize, Compliment or Contrast your kitchen cabinets?

In order to decide which of these you are going to do; use a color wheel. You can find one in art books, a paint store or go online. I found a good one at http://kingfish.coastal.edu/marine/Animations/Images/Color-Wheel.png. It is kind of basic, but easy to use.

Harmonizing colors are close to each other on the color wheel. You won't want them too close to each other, or it could end up looking like just a bad paint job.

Complimentary colors are separated by another color on the color wheel. Alone these two colors might not look well together, but used in conjunction with another color they end up complimenting each other. A good example of this could be blue and green. Alone they wouldn't look all that great, but separated with yellow or brown they might look really nice.

Contrasting colors are colors that are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. A lot of times this technique is used to make certain aspects more visible; such as a border.

While doing some research on a totally unrelated topic, I came across a website http://www.pagepainter.com/gallery/. This site is not for painting and decorating ideas, but they have grouped together different colors for an absolutely amazing effect. I suggest you give it a try. When I told my best friend that I painted my kitchen cabinets 'candytuft,' she had to come right over and look. She couldn't imagine anything more delightful.

If you can't totally commit yourself to bold and vibrant colors; try to create a balance using neutrals with a touch of bright color. The fresh, new look to your kitchen cabinets will surely please you, and those who enter.